


The Last of Us

by poisonflowers



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Death, Episode 114, F/M, Good End, Minor Character Death, Old Age, Spoilers, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 13:52:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12343992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonflowers/pseuds/poisonflowers
Summary: After episode 114 I wanted to give all of Vox Machina a good death and happy ending. Velora lives, Vax lives, and everyone gets old. In their own way.





	The Last of Us

After they defeated Vecna, when Arkhan stole the hand then disappeared in a flash of light, Vox Machina just stood there for a few moments, blinking in disbelief. 

"WHAT?" Keyleth bellowed as she dropped her planetar form, "did that just happen?"

"Betrayed by an ally," Percy grumbled. "This is Clarota all over again!"

"Later! We can worry about it later," Vax flew over to where his twin was sobbing over the body of their little sister, Velora, and wrapped his arms around them both. "Pickle!" He called to Pike, "help her, please? She's just a child, can you bring her back?"

Pike started towards the half-elves, but stumbled on swayed on unsteady legs. Grog caught her and swept his tiny gnome friend up in his arms. "She needs to rest," Grog said firmly.

Pike nodded, "Sorry, sorry. I'm low on spells, and the casting time takes an hour. Let's not do it here, Velora should be brought back somewhere safe. And happy."

Vex nodded through her tears, "we'll take her to Whitestone." She turned back to the tiny elf in her arms, "you'll like that, won't you darling? Remember when you stayed at my house, and I let Trinket sleep in your room?" 

The child didn't answer.

"I need to find Kaylie," Scanlan cut in. "Right now. Did Gilmore take her to Emon or Whitestone?"

"I don't know, I don't know," Keyleth babbled. "And I'm out of higher-level spells, too. I can't get up there- er, anywhere!"

Percy lay a steadying hand on his friend's shoulder, and pointed over at the great bronze dragon, who was pawing, frustrated, at the invisible force field that surrounded them. "They'll get us home. We just have to wait for the spell to run out. Shouldn't be long now."

Vex turned to her brother, "how long do you have? You should be here when she wakes up-"

Vax shrugged, his great black wings shedding feathers as he did, "how long do any of us have, Stubby?" He hugged her tighter, "I'll stay as long as I can."

***  
When the force field dropped J'amon wasn't well enough to fly them all the way back to Whitestone, but they were able to deliver them to Vasselheim, where the group encountered a number of spellcasters who were all too eager to offer assistance to the heroes who had saved their historic city. 

Once back in Whitestone they rested, all curled up in one giant heap in front of the fireplace in Vex's home. Tary joined them, weeping with joy when he leared that none of his friends had been killed- at least not permanently. 

Grog formed the base of the pile, with two gnomes resting in his arms. Trinket was sprawled across the goliath's middle, with the rest of Vox Machine was using the great bear as a pillow- Vex and Vax to one side, with the deceased Velora in their arms, Keyleth, Percy and Tary on the other. 

"How long do you have?" Vex asked her brother again.

He didn't answer.

***

Vax stayed awake as long as he could, worried that he wouldn't wake up, that the moment he fell asleep his body would once again disappear in a cloud of ash. He couldn't do that to his twin, to have her wake up to both her siblings dead. But the battle with Vecna had been hard, and just before dawn he passed out from the exhaustion. 

In a blink he was standing in front of the Raven Queen again. Despite her mask and her unchanging face, she looked upset. 

"My Champion," she said, her voice still high and gentle, but now with an edge to it. "You let him get away?"

"Wh-what?" Vax stuttered in disbelief, "my Queen, we used the trammels, we read the passage- we did everything the gods told us to do. We defeated Vecna!"

The great masked figure shook her head, "you lost the hand. A part of him remains in your world." She bent down to look him in the eye, and Vax stared into the empty dark eye holes in her mask. "You will remain in that world, too, until every part of Vecna is stamped out."

Vax awoke with a start, gasping for breath. He was back in his sister's home, the rest of his friends all still asleep. Grog was snoring softly. 

Then he noticed the small body in his arms had grown warm. Velora gasped for air, then quickly settled back to sleep. 

Vax kissed her forehead and wept quietly, not wanting to wake anyone else. Another gift from the Raven Queen.

***

They all parted ways after that. Velora was returned to her overjoyed parents, the twins even earned an approving nod from Syngorn- not that they needed nor wanted his approval. Tary was next to go, his family was expecting him in Wildemount, he'd only lingered in Whitestone because his damned necklace kept blinking and he was too worried about all of his dear friends to leave! But now that they were safe, he and Doty would have to be off. 

Then came Pike, the temple of Sarenrae had been nearly destroyed in the battle, and her help was needed to rebuild it. Again. Grog went with her, as the temple of Kord had also been damaged. Plus he just wasn't ready to leave his best buddy's side yet.

Scanlan and Kaylie needed to get back to their business in Ank'harel, but promised to visit often. Just...no more adventures. They'd both died now, and decided it was overrated. They were ready for the quiet life. Well, not too quiet. 

Percy and Vex didn't have anywhere to go as they were already home. There was much to be done, starting with the complete destruction of the ziggurat and every last trace of Vecna or the Briarwoods left in Whitestone.

Keyleth and Vax stayed in Whitestone for as long as they could, wanted to be near their best friend and twin sister. But all too soon Vax saw the dark mark on his chest start to spread, and felt a small tug, as if some invisible string was pulling him towards Arkhan and the Hand of Vecna. It was time to go. 

"Here brother," Vex pulled him aside before he left, and slipped two palm-sized rocks into his pockets, "Think you'll need these more than I do."

"The Gate Stones," Vax said. "Sure you don't want to keep one?"

Vex shook her head, "Keyleth can get you back here through the Sun Tree whenever she likes. But you'll need a way to get to Keyleth."

Vax smiled, "when did you get so clever, Stubby?"

"Learned it from watching you," Vex said, mirroring his smile. "You've taught me so much- I even picked Scanlan's pocket to get that Gate Stone back from him."

"I am so very, very proud of you."

***  
Keyleth was needed in Zephrah, and with everyone else busy Vax thought it better to hunt Arkhan alone. Quickly, stealthfuly he tracked the great Dragonborn Paladin all over Exandria. Every time that Vax got close, Arkhan would teleport away. 

Almost every night when it was time to rest, Vax would use the Gate Stone to return home to his beloved druid. Every morning, Keyleth would scry on Arkhan, then use her "Transport Via Plants" spell to get Vax as close to their enemy as possible. 

They continued this way for years, not really noticing the passage of time. Since completing her aramente, Keyleth's ageing had slowed dramatically- she might live a thousand years now. As a revenant, Vax had also stopped aging.

"I'm sorry I never gave you children," Vax remarked, one day out of the blue.

"Don't be silly," Keyleth laughed. "All of the air ashari are my children." She paused then, deep in thought. "But...you could get me a pet. I've always wanted kitten, oh!" She gasped, and clapped her hands in delight, "I could name it Minxie!" 

Vax just laughed and swept her up into a huge hug, unfurling his wings and wrapping them around them both.

The rest of Vox Machina weren't so lucky when it came to aging, and they were all shocked when they received word one day to return to Whitestone immediate. Percy was dying. 

He was human, and had lived a hard life besides that, what with the torture and demons and all. But he looked happy as he lay in his bed, aged nearly seventy, surrounded by his family. 

"It's okay, darling," Vex said as she smoothed her husband's hair from his brow. "We're all here for you." Vex had hardly changed, being a half-elf, though there were a few strands of gray in her hair. She even still had a bear, Trinket the 5th, who kept sadly nudging Percy's hand with his wet nose. 

Cassandra's hair had gone completely white and she had a few lines about her eyes, but she smiled bravely. Though Vax noticed Cassandra was clutching her wife's hand a little too tight. Gathered about were Percy and Vex's five children, seventeen grand-children, and one infant great-grandchild. "The future of Whitestone is secure," Percy said, as his last breath escaped him.

And it was. 

***  
After that Vex joined her brother on his hunt. "Freddy Jr. has taken over his father's seat," she said of her son, Lord Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo IV, "and his wife, the new Lady of Whitestone, doesn't need a mother-in-law skulking about. Besides," she turned to him and smiled, "I've missed you, brother."

"I've missed you too, Stubby," Vax said. And they were off. 

With Vex's tracking skills they were able to close the gap between them an Arkhan, even coming close enough to engage in direct combat a few times over the years. Still, he could always teleport away before they managed to get the hand. 

"This is bullshit," Vex shrieked one day as Arkhan had teleported off, just as she fired a bramble shot straight into the hand. "Shouldn't he at least be slowing down by now? How long do dragonborn live, anyway?"

"About as long as humans," Vax said, cleaning the blood off his dagger. He noticed his sister wince out of the corner of his eye, "sorry. What I meant to say was, I think he's unnaturally extending his life somehow. Kinda like Vecna. It's an asshole move, but fits the profile."

"Well I'm getting sick of it," Vex said. "Aren't you?"

Vax shook his head, and placed a hand on his chest where the dark mark remained, where he could feel a tiny thread pull on his rib cage once again. "It's the only thing keeping me alive."

Vex winced again. "Well I'm getting too old for this," she said. "But don't you dare tell Scanlan I said that."

Vax nodded, sadly, he knew this day would come eventually. "Where will you go?"

She thought a minute, then answered, "to Vasselheim, I think. To the temple of Pelor. I owe him some praise and devotion and whatnot. Besides, Pike and Grog are there, so I'll still be near family."

Vax smiled, sadly, "sounds perfect. Come home to Zephrah with me, then Keyleth and I can see you off in the morning?"

***  
Word of Tary's death reached them in an appropriately grand fashion. His body was paraded about the continent in a rose gold casket, it's arrival announced by a blare of magical trumpets and flock of doves. 

He'd bequeathed Doty to Vox Machina. 

"What the fuck are we supposed to do with it?" Vex asked through clenched teeth. 

"You could send it to the bakery?" Vax whispered back.

"Oh fuck," Vex said, loud enough to make the poor clerk reading Tary's will jump. "I forgot about the bakery!"

***  
No one really knows how long Goliath's live, as their lives are violent enough that most don't live long enough to experience retirement and old age. No one know how long gnomes live, either, though it is a very long time. They don't even reach adulthood until age forty, and succumb to the effects of the Bleaching- a draining of the color and spirit from their body- long before death. 

Therefore, around the time when Grog's beard had turned steel-gray and both Scanlan's hair and the tips of his fingers had gone bone-white, the two of them, along with Pike, decided to sail off for one last adventure. If they were going to go out, it was going to be in a blaze of glory.

"Pickle, before you go," Vax bent down to whisper in her ear, "will you tell me who it was you had a crush on all those years ago?"

Pike just smiled and smacked him on the ass.

Vax and Keyleth stood arm and arm on the shore of the Bay of Gifts, with Kaylie nearby, waving as their family sailed off into the sunset. But when Vax turned to say something to his sister, she was gone. 

"She snuck onto the ship," Keyleth confirmed, using her Scrying Eye. "That's really impressive, considering she had a bear with her!"

"That's my sister," Vax said.

***

Nearly a thousand years passed, and Keyleth left Zephrah less and less. Her hair grayed, and her frame bent, all while Vax stayed the same. 

"My beautiful winged boy," she said with a smile, one morning, when she was finding it particularly hard to get out of bed. Her chest hurt, and her vision was growing blurry. 

"This isn't right," Vax said, blinking back tears. "You were supposed to outlive us all, I never thought-" 

"Hush now," Keyleth said. "I still might yet." With weak hands she grasped her Staff of Melora, then closed her eyes in deep concentration. The room around them began to glow blue.

Vax stepped back from the side.of the bed, alarmed, when suddenly Arkhan appeared before them!

The tall red dragonborn as just as surprised. "You! But how-" he bellowed.

"How?" Keyleth's eyes glowed and her form crackled with energy. "I'm a level 20 Archdruid, bitch!" 

"That's my girlfriend!" Vax cried, and in a flash of black wings and Boots of Haste, he rushed forward and chopped off the Hand of Vecna. He then tossed it to Keyleth, who incinerated it with her flame hands.

Both Vax and Arkhan's forms instantly fell to ash. Keyleth lay back in her bed again, smiling. 

"Sorry about the mess," she quipped to no one in particular, as she lost consciousness for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> The bit about gnomes and The Bleaching I got from Pathfinder, since Pike and Scanlan started as Pathfinder gnomes.


End file.
